Combination of railroad tracks and wheels



H. R. CAMPBELL. COMBINATION OF RAILROAD TRACKS AND WHEELS. No. 11,003.

Patented June 6, 1854.

I H 3 I H N m miillallllul I I I UNITED STATES "PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY R. CAMPBELL, OF LEBANON, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

COMBINATION OF BAIIIJROAD TRACKS AND Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,003, dated June 6, 1854.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY R. CAMPBELL, of Lebanon, in the county of Grafton and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroad- Tracks, in combination with wheels of particular form of tread or surface, as hereinafter described, for engines, cars, and carriages, to run and be used thereon; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and .exact description of said improvement.

My invention consists in making a double line of rails upon each side of a rail road track, as represented in the drawing Figures 3, 4, and 5, instead of one line of rails as heretofore used,and in so arranging said double lines of rails,"with reference to distance from each other, as to admit the flange of the wheel to run freely between them; and so that a wheel having a tread 0r bearing surface on each side of the flange, as represented in Figs. 1 and 5, of equal diameter shall run upon both lines of rails and bear as equally upon them as practicable; and also in constructing and using upon and in combination with the rail-road track above described, wheels of engines, cars and carriages having a tread or bearing surface of equal diameter on each side of the flange which is in the center between the two treading surfaces of the wheel, as represented at b, b, 0, Figs. 1 and 5, instead of being placed on one edge of the wheel as in the usual way, where only one tread or bearing surface is used, said rails in said railroad track, and said Wheels to be constructed and used in combination with and upon said rail road track substantially as described and represented in the drawing hereto attached in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5; but subject to such exceptions as is hereinafter made andstated.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I take rail road bars of any common or suitable sectional form or shape and lay them upon supports or foundations of any suitable description, either with continuous bearings, or bearings at intervals or distances from each other, in any of the common forms or modes, and in such manner as to have two lines of bars or rails with a space between, and with two surfaces which are level, or nearly so for the bearing of the wheels upon each side of the rail-road track,

as represented in the drawing Figs. 3 and 4. These two lines of rails or bars are placed at such distances from each other as to allow the flanges of the wheels to run freely between them, and so close to each other as to receive upon each line of bars orrails the track, I use wheels to engines, cars and car riages which are made with a double tread, or a tread of equal diameter on each side of the flange, as represented at b, b, o in Figs. 1 and 5the flange being in thecenter between the two treads or bearing surfaces of the wheeland the weight or pressure of the wheel being as equally as practicable on the two lines of rails,tl1e wheels to be formed on the tread and flange and to bear on the two double lines of railsas represented in the drawing at b, b, 0, Figs. 1 and 5.

To avo1d the shocks usual 1n passing or running car wheels over the oints of I'iLllS,

or to diminish them as much as possible I v recommend that the joints in each line of rails be laid opposite to a solid part of the rail in the opposite or adjacent bars or line of rails, as represented in the drawing, Figs. 3 and 4 at C, D, and I recommend that a chair or saddle of iron be used at each joint, as represented. at C, D, Figs. 3, 4 and 5; or at each bearing, if at intervals or spaces from each other, or at suitable distances apart if the rail road bars have a continuous bearing. But I do not confine my improvement to any particular form of chair or saddle or to any specific or particular mode of fastening the bars or rails to their proper places. Any of the forms of chair or saddle in use or any of the modes of connecting the bars which are suitable to a single rail, or to a rail in any form where a single rail only is used on each side of the track, and with a single tread to each wheel, will answer if applied to my improvement, but a double chair or saddle is preferable.

I do not confine -or limit the fastenings to any particular mode or plan for connecting the ends of the bars together or for keeping them a proper distance apart, but I prefer and recommend double saddles or chairs of wrought or cast iron, similar to those represented in the drawing, to be fastened in the usual way.

I do not claim as a part of my improvement what is called the compound rail (or a rail composed of two or more bars in its cross section) so joined and fitted together as to form one continuous bar or rail on each side of the track, to be used with wheels of a single tread and a flange on one edge in the usual form. Nor do I claim the invention of the rail road bars laid side by side so as to be used under a wheel of single tread, and flange on one edge, in the common form. Nor do I claim a rail with a groove in it, or two rails so arranged as to form a groove between them to be used merely as a guide to the flange upon wheels having a bearing or tread on one side of the flange only, in the common way. Nor do I; claim a wheel with a flange in, its center of tread which is intended to run and bind in a grooved or double rail; or a grooved wheel, which is intended to bind upon a single rail, of any form, or any similar contrivance, by extra rails or wheels, to create an'unusual grip or friction over what is due to Weight (as ordinarily applied) on rails of inclined planes as heretofore claimed or patented.

The essential and distinguishing character of my improvement is the double rail in combination and use with Wheels having a tread or bearing on each side of the flange, as hereinbefore described and as represented in the drawings hereto attached.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The combination of the wheel with the flange in the middle of the tread (which shall be symmetrical on both sides of the flange, as to diameter and tread) with the double line of rails so constructed that the flange of the wheel shall run freely between said double line of rails, and with suflicient play or space between said double line of rails to avoid unnecessary friction against said flange, and to accommodate the ordi: nary inequalities in the width and parallelism of the rail road track; the surfaces of said double line of rails to be level or nearly so, and the two portions of the tread of the wheel to bear the whole weight of thewheel equally, or nearly so, on the surfaces of said double rails, the tracks and wheels to be arranged for use, in combination, and for application to rail road pur- I poses, as shown in the drawing hereto attached,-in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and as set forth and described in the foregoing description and specification of said improve ment, to which I refer.

The purposes and objects claimed for said improvement, as the result of the combination, when applied to rail road purposes,

is lncreased economy in the track engines and cars, 1n power, speed, safety, profit and usefulness of ra1l road communlcation.

H. R. CAMPBELL.

Witnesses:

TIMOTHY KENRICK. JAMES H. KENDRICK. 

